“And if it is, you think—­”

“It must be the place!  Oh, Frank!  What if we are near the spot?  Would he still be alive, or has he given up the fight?  That condor perched up on the pinnacle—­was he only waiting for the time to come when he could fly down?  Perhaps—­oh! what is that moving yonder?  Look, Frank, Frank, something is coming up above the top of the mountain!  Can you see it?  If you could only take the glasses and tell me, for my hands are shaking so I can’t hold them!”

“Brace up, Andy.  I can see what you mean without the glasses.  There, now it has risen above the line of rocks—­something that bobs to and fro like no bird ever flew—­something that floats, now this way and now that, just as the wind blows.  Andy, upon my word I believe it is, it must be—­”

“Oh, say it for me, please, because I just can’t find words!” cried the other.

It was a wonder that in their tremendous excitement something disastrous did not happen to the aeroplane, but Frank had wisely cut off some of the power, so that they were just making fair headway at the time.

“It is a little parachute balloon, just like the one that carried that message into the cocoa grove of Carlos Mendoza!” ejaculated Frank.

“Then it means that we have found the valley prison!” gasped Andy.

“Sure, that’s a fact.  The cliffs yonder are on one side of it!” Frank cried.

“And Frank, don’t you see, the fact that another of those little messengers of hope has just come up out of the valley shows that he is alive!”

“You just bet he is, Andy; and we’re going to be with him in three shakes of a lamb’s tail!” declared the other.

Andy could not utter another word; he was too full of emotion.  So he just sat there and stared and waited, his heart doubtless thumping against his ribs as it had never done before.

Of course, when Frank gave utterance to that boast he did not really mean it, and only had the encouragement of his chum in view.  He knew that it was apt to prove a difficult task, landing in that enclosed valley, where the vegetation must be of a tropical order.

First of all they must circle around over the wide expanse to take in its features and discover the prisoner.  Then Frank could lay his plans accordingly.

Gradually they began to see more and more of those marvelous cliffs.  They seemed to stretch in an unbroken cordon completely around the valley.  If they were as near like adamant as they looked it would take a man years to cut steps to the lofty top, even though he were given proper tools for the work.

And presently they cleared the near side, so that the monoplane floated directly above the valley itself.

“Careful now, Andy!” warned the cautious Frank.  “Hold yourself tight while we circle around, dropping lower all the time.  Suppose you shout, though I should think he’d have heard the noise of our exhaust before now!”